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Both require a huge amount of time, excpet the Witcher is good and doesn't require that you spend some of that time shopping, bowling and playing pool. The sequel s better so I'd play that first if you haven't. The Witcher is excellent as well but it's pretty unfriendly and requires investment. You won't enjoy it unless you really commit to that, and it's a lot to commit too. But if you have the time and inclination, which I suspect you probably do given you've finished New Vegas, I highly recommend it.

GTA IV is an absolute marvel to observe as a clockwork city but the game itself is completely throw away and very confused.

I was going mostly off of the howlongtobeat estimations for the game, though I suppose depending on how compelling I found the side-quests I could spend a while in both. Still, I guess I'll go with The Witcher then.

It's quite something, isn't it? Coincidentally, I've been watching a few videos analyzing the ending of MGS 2 lately, this one in particular being quite insightful. Spoiler follow, obviously.

Thanks for the link, it was most excellent. MGS2 is really one of those kind of games that make you think. It's interesting when you compare it to the likes of Spec Ops and Bioshock and remember one of Snake's first lines about the dangers of turning war into a video game. It came out only shortly after Medal of Honor which was arguably the first of the many hyperrealistic military shooter that dominate the medium to this day. I can't help but think he had a point there.

Dear Esther, of all things, is the first game I've encountered that I can't get to run satisfactorily without compromising all the pretties. And considering that Dear Esther is all pretties, I'm just not going to play it.

Also finished the back nine in Thomas Was Alone, which is a wonderful exercise in design minimalism. Wonder what happened to Team Jump. A couple of the levels were total shits though, in terms of finicky jumping and timing if not actual difficulty. Having multiple characters with different jump heights is a nice idea in theory, but this being a platformer, it also prevented me from getting a good "feel" for how far/high I could jump with some of the lesser used character. Wish there was more Thomas/James levels, as they were by far the best part of the game.

Started Remember Me this evening... I really love the look of Neo Paris and all the ideas they have put into it, but for God's sake, let me play the game! I don't need another dramatic camera movement every 5 seconds! The most offending part so far was taking away the possibility to walk back from where I just came from after getting close to my contact person but before triggering the dialogue. Why would you do that? I knew there was another collectible in this area, but the end of the cutscene I can't avoid anymore puts me on the opposite side of a door which I apparently can't open from the inside, nor are there any other checkpoints I can go back to other than the one the game has just set.

The combo system is alright - maybe Alec is just an old bum whose short term memory isn't the best anymore, but I had no problem recreating the combos I just edited seconds ago. Actually, his whole review was so full of snark (compared to your usual RPS article) that I felt he didn't really want to like the game at all.

The game has its problems, that's for certain, but I feel it's a bit like mirrors edge. There's a big to-do where everyone tries to shout out about how mediocre it is and oh what a missed opportunity and ha ha 7/10...

And then years later I think people will be like 'you know, that was almost there. It was less than the sum of its parts, but it might have really been something! Sequel now!'

No disagreements that chief amongst its problems is that it just needs to have MORE GAME. And less sawtooths, please. I hate exploring, triggering the next bit of the level by accident, and missing out on secrets because YOU CAN'T GO BACK. Don't punish me for accidentally progressing. Just don't.

The game has its problems, that's for certain, but I feel it's a bit like mirrors edge. There's a big to-do where everyone tries to shout out about how mediocre it is and oh what a missed opportunity and ha ha 7/10...

And then years later I think people will be like 'you know, that was almost there. It was less than the sum of its parts, but it might have really been something! Sequel now!'

No disagreements that chief amongst its problems is that it just needs to have MORE GAME. And less sawtooths, please. I hate exploring, triggering the next bit of the level by accident, and missing out on secrets because YOU CAN'T GO BACK. Don't punish me for accidentally progressing. Just don't.

Agreed. What made me even more furious though is all the boss and mini-boss fights... As soon as I walked into a more open area, I would think 'boss fight'. And they would appear. I really loved the art though and the fighting system was quite nice.

The game has its problems, that's for certain, but I feel it's a bit like mirrors edge. There's a big to-do where everyone tries to shout out about how mediocre it is and oh what a missed opportunity and ha ha 7/10...

And then years later I think people will be like 'you know, that was almost there. It was less than the sum of its parts, but it might have really been something! Sequel now!'

Most probably, yes. For all its shortcomings I encountered so far I am still glad I picked it up and showed my support for the developer. If Don'tNod can keep up the quality of visual design and maybe invest some more time in game design with their next game, it should be huge.

- If the sound of Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings" makes you think of Kharak burning instead of the Vietnamese jungle, most of your youth happened during the 90s. -

I was going mostly off of the howlongtobeat estimations for the game, though I suppose depending on how compelling I found the side-quests I could spend a while in both. Still, I guess I'll go with The Witcher then.

There's nothing like as many side quests as there are in a traditional RPG, I'd be surprised if you ever had more than 5 quests including the main one active at any time. With the exception of one or two difficulty spikes the game gets easier as you go if anything so there's no real reason to grind.

That said one of the better parts of the first game is the Witcheryness of it, in that you can just take random contracts to kill beasties for folks and steep yourself in the world that way. Plays a lot more like Geralt the Witcher/Bounty Hunter rather than the second game's Geralt the Jedi/political consort.

The point I'm trying to make is that sidequests are not essential but they are fun. You're looking at about 40 hours to complete a fairly involved play through.

I’d still recommend GTA IV but just as something to dip in and out of. The side missions are probably the best in that they allow for relatively cinematic car chases and somewhat plausible events like drug busts and such, and when everything in the game synergises you can get some truly amazing moments. Just walking around looking at the city live and do its thing is a phenomenal experience, it’s like being transported inside Legoland or a model village or something, it’s a truly outstanding piece of architectural and cultural simulation.

The problem is the narrative of the game does pretty much everything in it’s power to make you bigger than the city, at which point the game loses its best element and just becomes an awkward third person shooter with little to offer.

I gave Expeditions: Conquistador a go as far as the first few missions and was sadly disappointed. I adore both TBS games as well as historical settings so the conquest of the New World seemed like the best thing ever to hit a TBS/RPG game.

I can't quite put a finger on what it is that puts me off this game but it just isn't working for me. Maybe the it's the rather dull and unsatisfying TBS combat after playing things like the Banner Saga or Frozen Synapse. The AI will too often commit suicide by triggering chain reaction attacks and do other odd things.

The utterly silly character traits like "Racist" or "Sexist" which gives 10% extra damage vs the opposite sex does not help either. I mean come on.. how would having a modern label like "sexist" make your musket balls do extra damage vs women? A "sexist" man of the period would more likely not want women in combat in the first place instead of being able to attack them more viciously. Taking complex historical issues and treating them like buzzwords is just dull.

The artwork on unit portraits is fantastic yet unfortunately that's about the only thing to add flavor to the game, the writing is silly and predictable but I am probably being a lot harder on it then I would be in a fantasy game. I suppose I might return to it with more interest but at the moment I feel cheated.

Currently spread across quite palette of games, Remember Me is coming along nicely, shame that the gameplay doesn't hold up to the otherwise excellent atmosphere and concepts, i'm a sucker for anything which is dystopian. Sadly it feels to have overstayed it's welcome, anyone know how long it is? About 5 - 6 hours in.

Getting my multiplayer fix by a rekindled love for Battlefield 3 (Hey BF4 at E3 totally sold me!) Been working on support/recon playing mostly rush, any recommendations for decent Rush servers, (EU)?

Backlog like usual, is ever growing, wish I actually had time to play half of them!

Got back to CIV 5 lately (bought gods & kings lately) after not playing it for a while (played for about a month after release). It seems that the AI is more sensible than what I remember it was and it longer gives me free cities after killing a couple of it's units.

Also started Divine Divinity for the third time and I just can't get into the game.
I think the pacing is a bit too slow for my tastes and the RPG mechanic are too generic to be interesting....

Played a bit of Sword of the Stars 2, but gave up quickly. The good news is that it does appear to be solidly stable now, the bad news is that the interface is still awful and the movement system is offputtingly clunky. I still think there's a game with real potential under there, and sincerely hope that further patching and expansions will bring it properly to the surface. SotS1 was no great shakes until the second expansion, after all, and now it's probably by favorite 4X game full stop. Regardless, though, SotS2 is reshelved for now.

Instead, started up some multiplayer Anno 2070. God awful DRM aside, it's a brilliant game, and reminds me just how much I adore this series. Something about the charm, the personalities, and the peculiar joy of efficient production chain management and trade networks never gets old. It's actually making me want to go play the earlier entries as well, 1404 was great and 1701 was my first love in the series. Unfortunately, 1701 Gold won't run on Win 7 64-bit due to the idiotic Tages, which is a worrying portent for my future ability to play any given entry in the series. Fingers crossed that GOG comes to the rescue on that...

Finally, in single player, I've gone back to my old second Dragon Age: Origins playthrough (elven mage, playing "good with a wild streak" where my first playthrough was a pragmatic-to-the-point-of-cruel rogue). It's taking some time to get back up to speed, but I picked up some DLC and am hoping to finish this out and finally play Awakenings for the first time before (for better or worse) moving on to DA2 to see whether all the hate is justified.